NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 409 



but varies with the degrees of latitude and season. The nest is composed chiefly 

 of bark-strips and leaves interwoven with various vegetable substances. The struc- 

 ture is usually built on a horizontal or drooping branch, near its extremity, and 

 situated at the edge of a grove near the roadside. All the nests of this species which 

 I have seen collected in Ohio, are very thin and frail structures; so thin that the 

 eggs may usually be seen from below. A nest sent me from Lee county, Texas, by 

 Mr. J. A. Singley, is compactly built of a cottony weed, a few stems of Spanish moss, 

 and lined with fine grass stems and a few catkins. Mr. L. 0. Pindar states that nests 

 of this species in Kentucky are compactly built but not very thickly lined. The eggs are 

 bright, light emerald green, spotted, dotted and blotched with various shades of 

 lilac, brownish-purple and dark brown; they cannot, with certainty, be distinguished 

 from the eggs of the Scarlet Tanager, but the brown tint in the markings pre- 

 dominate. Ten specimens offer as great variation in their sizes as do those of P. 

 erytJiromelas, and average about the same, .94x.64 inches. 



610u. COOPER'S TANAGER. Piranga rubra cooperi Ridgw. Geog.'Dist. 

 Arizona, New Mexico, north to (Denver) Colorado, south to Western Mexico. 



According to Mr. Scott this subspecies is a common migrant and summer resident 

 about Tucson, Riverside, Florence, and at Mineral Creek and in the San Pedro 

 Valley of Southern Arizona. They seem to be more rare than either of the other 

 species of the Tanager in the oak region of the Catalinas, where a few breed. The 

 eggs are described as being not distinguishable from those of P. rubra. 



611. PURPLE MARTIN. Progne subis (Linn.) Geog. Dist. Temperate North 

 America, north to Ontario and the Saskatchewan, south to the higher parts of Mexi- 

 co, wintering in South America. 



The Martin, conspicuous for its striking color and screaming, cracking noise, 

 breeds throughout its United States range. It originally built in hollow trees, and 

 some of the "old fogies" do yet, but those who find suitable nesting places in eaves 

 and cornices of buildings or in boxes prepared for their use, are thus bred to 

 American ideas and never return to their old log cabins in the air. This jolly fel- 

 low who puts life into the quiet streets of country towns, and large cities also, by 

 his noise and activity, constructs a nest out of anything that is handy leaves, twigs, 

 straws, bits of string, rags and paper. Commonly four or five eggs are laid, rarely 

 six. They are pure, glossy white, oval-oblong, pointed at one end, and average .93 

 x.73. Six specimens measure ,94x.69, .95x.70, .95x.69, .98x.75, l.OOx.75, .99x.69 inches. 



61 la. WESTERN MARTIN. Progne subis Jicsperia Brewst. Geog. Dist. 

 California, south of Lat. 40, and southern Arizona; in winter south to Nicaragua. 



According to Mr. William Brewster the female of this race differs from the 

 female of subis in having the abdominal region and under tail-coverts pure white, 

 etc., while the male is indistinguishable from the male of subis. The nesting habits 

 and eggs are identical with those of the Purple Martin of the Eastern States. 



611. 1. CUBAN MARTIN. Progne cryptolcuea Baird. Geog. Dist. Cuba and 

 Southern Florida. 



This is a smaller species than P. subis with narrower tail-feathers and relatively 

 more deeply-forked tail. It is also characterized by a difference in the coloration of 

 its plumage. It breeds in Cuba and in Southern Florida, nesting in holes of trees. 

 The eggs are indistinguishable from those of Progne subis, averaging a trifle smaller. 



